3 Tactics for Generating Earned Media with Brand Content

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital and social channels are changing the ways people engage with and consume content. This shift in content consumption has had a profound impact not only on how news is produced, but also on what IS considered newsworthy and how much coverage a given topic gets.

As the definition of "news" shifts, so must our traditional view of earned media. This presents both challenges and opportunities for brands looking to drive the conversation and connect with their target audience. Marketers looking to garner media coverage for their brands need to step up to the plate with different topics and formats that will capture reader attention and promote social sharing and conversation.

What can brands do to engage consumers -- and the media?

Brands looking to capitalize on the evolution of earned media need to completely revamp their content strategies -- and PR needs to update its pitches to match. Sarah Skerik, PR Newswire's VP of Content Marketing, will host a session at Tech Marketing 360 entitled The Earned Media Evolution: How Your Brand Can Capture Mind Share & Earn Attention. Skerik will share tactics to recalibrate your organization's marketing efforts to match the demands of the audience and inspire media attention, including:

Monitoring for social trends to inform the content and editorial calendar: trending topics present opportunities to showcase and pitch content that was previously not considered "newsworthy"

Promoting viral content and social sharing in your campaigns -- the media are active participants in social channels and are looking for content to curate and share

Visual storytelling -- compelling multimedia and rich content are effective methods to tell your story in new ways, and capture finite audience attention and media coverage